Hi amigos !
It's my pleasure to make the script of Dxers Unlimited's weekend edition
available via
the Internet too.

Radio Havana Cuba
Dxers Unlimited
Dxers Unlimited's weekend edition for 11-12 February 2006
By Arnie Coro
Radio amateur CO2KK

Welcome to the weekend edition of your favorite radio hobby program, coming
to you via short wave and also from our streaming audio source at www
radiohc.cu... We also offer the opportunity of reading the scripts of the
program at our website too... go to www.radiohc.cu, click on English and
then to Dxers... I am Arnie Coro,radio amateur CO2KK , your friend here in
Havana and host of this twice weekly 18 minutes on the air devoted to our
wonderful hobby , yours and mine : RADIO.
Here is item one: The forecast about solar activity you heard during the mid
week edition is holding pretty well, and solar activity continues to be very
low, with the ionospheric absorption index reaching also rather low values..
Solar flux is hovering around .75.. to .80 units, and the sunspot count has
stayed at extremely low levels from ZERO to 15 ......
Item three: Those Dxers Unlimited's listeners that have built different
versions of the Micro Vert antenna have sent e-mail messages telling me that
the antenna is providing good reception of the adjacent international short
wave broadcast bands next to the amateur band for which the Micro Vert was
built... For example, the 20 meter band Micro Vert is providing good
reception of both the 19 and the 22 meter bands, while at the same time
letting the owner both monitor and also transmit on 20 meters...
The 30 meter band Micro Vert is providing, again according to reports
received here from listeners that have built them, good reception on the 31
and 25 meters international short wave broadcast bands.... And that's
something nice to know, because many of those who have built these antennas
tell me that the Micro Vert was the easiest to build and lowest cost
solution to the challenge of installing a short wave antenna at a very
restricted space...
Item four: Changing from a wall wart plug in power supply to a very well
built, fully filtered and regulated DC supply changed the way a Dxers
Unlimited's listener receiver worked. Arnie, listener Augusto from Italy
writes, following your advice I read on one of your show's old scripts, I
decided to replace the wal wart 9 volts DC supply that I have used with my
solid state radio for years. Now using a well designed, fully filtered and
well regulated supply and WHAT A DIFFERENCE !!!
Reception is much better, the audio is coming with less distortion and
reception of single side band signals is also much improved... Well amigo
Augusto from Naples, nice to hear about your success with the KK-12 power
supply , and I do hope that many Dxers Unlimited's listeners around the
world will hear your comments and replace those low quality,poorly regulated
and badly built WAL WART DC power supplies with a well designed one like the
KK-12...You can be sure that it is a well worth effort amigos !!!
Today here at Dxers Unlimited we will also provide you with our technical
topics section, la numero uno ASK ARNIE, and at the end of the program, our
exclusive and not copyrighted HF plus low band VHF propagation update and
forecast.
Standby now for a few seconds, the show will continue after a brief musical
interval

.................
This is the weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited, and here is a brief comment
about the much improved quality of reception achieved by Radio Rebelde
Tropical band broadcast on 5025 kiloHertz... You can send your reports
directly to Radio Rebelde ,Send your Radio Rebelde's Tropical Band reports
Radio Rebelde DX, PO BOX 6277 Havana, Cuba...
PO BOX 6277 Havana, Cuba...
And now here is our technical topics section for today...
How to choose the right type of coaxial cable for your antenna system... so
that you won't waste money buying expensive cables when you really don't
need them...
For example, TV cable companies use several types of 75 ohm coaxial cables
that are ideal for amateur radio and short wave listening use, as well as
for VHF band scanning... Because the world's production of TV type 75 ohm
coaxial cable is so huge as compared with the production of 50 ohm impedance
cable, 75 ohm coax is much cheaper while providing the same or even higher
quality on a per unit length cost basis. That's why I use 75 ohm cables at
my amateur radio station for practically all applications... and I can
assure you that receivers won't see any difference at all, and in the case
of transmitters , a very simple impedance adapter needed only with solid
state is the only additional thing needed... My old vacuum tube transceivers
don't even need the impedance converter , as they happily run with 75 ohm
coaxial cables easily matched by the output stage PI network. Si amigos,yes
my friends, oui mes amis... whenever you have a chance of obtaining 75 ohm
coaxial cable,just grab it !!! It works quite well, and for all practical
purposes, it will do the job.. There are even some large diameter low loss
75 ohm cables used by the TV cable industry that will make ideal
transmission lines for your VHF , UHF and low band microwave antennas, and
typically the TV cabletechnicians will gladly provide radio amateurs with
the short ends of the big drums of cable !!!
See, amateur radio and short wave listening don't need to be an expensive
hobby if you follow your friend Arnie Coro's advice !!!

This is Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show is Dxers Unlimited,and
amigos I am very happy to say that we have now completedt he test period
of six of our new 100 kiloWatt shortwave transmitters... currently operating
during our nightly broadcasts with five of them, on 11760, 9600 and 9550,
6060 and 5965 kiloHertz ...
You can still send the signal reports requested by our Chief Engineer to me,
and I will relay them to him and to our transmitting station staff for them
to enjoy... Send your signal reports and comments about the audio quality
too to arnie@rhc.cu, again arnie@rhc.cu, or VIA AIR MAIL to Arnie Coro,
Radio Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba...
Now here is ASK ARNIE, the most popular section of Dxers Unlimited according
to the recent listener survey carried on by our correspondence department...
Today's question... came from a listener in South Africa... it says, Dear
Arnie, I have recently read more here about the so called broadband over the
power lines , BPL. Or PLC, Power Line Communications.. and would like to
hear your opinion about that system...

Well amigo, so far all I have heard about BPL or PLC , whichever way you
like to call it, or technically speaking making digital broadband
connectivity available using the electrical power distribution network , is
really dreadful to say the least... In other words, the BPL or PLC systems
in the present forms so far tested do cause a terrible amount of
interference to the radio spectrum used for radio broacasting, communication
systems and other applications... BPL systems have another weakness too, and
that is that radio signals from stations operating nearby bring BPL to a
complete stop, or reduces the transfer of digital data to a very slow pace..
BPL as we know it today is still in its very early stages of development,
and things may change one way or the other in the future... Some researchers
are talking about NEW BPL system that will work on the microwave bands. and
that one will certainly cause no interference to users of thelower radio
frequencies between 500 kiloHertz and200 megaHertz, that at this moment are
in deep trouble if BPL becomes popular !!!
QUESTION NUMBER TWO: It came from a listener in the US state of Iowa... Mark
wants to know how the short wave bands will behave from now on, after he
heard that the solar cycle was coming near to its minimum. Well amigo Mark,
to make a long story short, we are all now watching how the higher frequency
amateur bands are now just be good for local work, 10 and 12 meters are be
behaving most of the time like the two meters VHF band, and 15 and 17 meters
will be opening up for DX less and less frequently as the solar cycle
reaches its bottom activity sometime between the second half of 2006 and the
end of 2007 according to recent forecasts, while other scientists now
believe that the cycle will end a bit earlier than expected... So, be have
those long wire antennas ready , as most of the DX activity will be
concetrating on frequencies spanning form 2 to 10 megaHertz, and sometimes
the maximum useable frequency curve will barely reach 6 megaHertz during the
local evening hours !!!
.............
This is the weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited, and here are now some radio
news items...


And now amigas and amigos, just before going QRT here is our exclusive and not copyrighted HF plus low band VHF propagation forecast...Solar activity is very low, and will almost surely continue at a very low level for the next several days... Solar flux number to be used for short term HF forecasting using propagation analysis software is around barely 80 units... Expect very good DX conditions on the AM broadcast band, the Tropical Bands on 120, 90 and 60meters and the international short wave broadcast band on 49 meters. Radio amateur operators will enjoy nice DX on 160, 80 and 40 meters during the local evening hours... VHF openings via sporadic E if any , will be almost non existent, and if they happen they will be very short lasting... See you all at the mid week edition of Dxers Unlimited, next Tuesday and Wednesday UTC days, and don't forget to send your signal reports and comments about the program to arnie@rhc.cu via E-Mail, or VIA AIR MAIL to Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba